ISBN: 0140381503 - Gary just can’t seem to fit in.  He doesn’t have any friends, his school work is always sloppy, and his teachers endlessly criticize him.  But he has a way to escape - he spaces out.  One day Gary accidentally hurts someone, and is being sent to a new school for kids with different learning styles.  Will Gary finally be able to catch up and fit in, or will he remain the Spaceman forever?

• Self-Awareness
• Use of Social Support Systems

ISBN: 0962513679 - Emily, 12, has a younger brother, Ben, who is hyperactive and a slow learner.  Her worry about him affects her schoolwork and her peer relationships.  Her family tends to be in denial about all of this.  Feelings are hidden until her parents seek professional help.  They learn that Ben has ADD – “Attention deficit disorder” - which is treatable through structuring his behavior and medication.  As Ben becomes calmer and more organized, and the family engages in activities together, Emily experiences feelings of jealousy, rage, and guilt.  What saves her is an inner voice, a dialogue with her frustration and anger and with her protective love for her brother.  She is finally able to deal with her ambivalence by recognizing that it is an okay part of her.

• Use of Social Support Systems

ISBN: 0440404851 - It’s September again.  What does it mean for Richard “Beast” Best to be left back?  It means being teased by his old friends while stuck facing the same old teacher in the same old classroom.  He even has to take a special reading class with “babies” like Emily Arrow and Matthew Jackson.  And just like last year, he can’t help getting into trouble.  But with the help of Mrs. Paris, the reading teacher, Beast starts to enjoy reading and just might find a way to help the second grade win the school banner for best class.

• Use of Social Support Systems

ISBN: 0688152945 - Sam acts like a smart aleck to keep from looking dumb.  Sam Mott has made it most of the way through sixth grade barely able to read and write.  Now Sam’s family moved again, and none of the kids in his new school has started calling him Dumbhead Sam yet.  But how long can Sam keep his problem secret when even the second-grader he baby-sits for reads better than he does?

• Self-Awareness
• Use of Social Support Systems

ISBN: 0836135326 - A third grader with learning difficulties is heartened by a spider he names Seymour, who rebuilds his web as necessary, and by finding out his father has a problem similar to his own.

• Perseverance

ISBN: 0823407195 – Shirley, a fourth-grader with dyslexia, struggles with her feelings of inferiority as she compares herself to her intellectually gifted older brother and newly adopted Vietnamese sister.

• Use of Social Support Systems
• Perseverance

ISBN: 0399231668 – Little Trisha is overjoyed at the thought of starting school and learning how to read.  But when she looks at a book, all the letters and numbers just get jumbled up.  Her classmates make matters worse by calling her dummy.  Only Mr. Falker, a stylish, fun-loving new teacher, recognizes Trisha’s incredible artistic ability - and her problem - and takes the time to lead her finally and happily to the magic of reading.  This autobiographical story is close to author Patricia Polacco’s heart.  It is her personal song of thanks to teachers like Mr. Falker, who quietly but surely change the lives of the children they teach.

• Perseverance
• Use of Social Support Systems

ISBN: 0966135334 - Throughout the story, Eli describes his feelings about the issue of writing and the reactions of his peers and teachers to his dysgraphia. After a significant adventure, Eli and his friends realize that everyone is different, with varying combinations of strengths and weaknesses.  Several appendices include actual stories written by Eli in elementary school and a list of strategies for students with writing problems.  An epilogue presents an allegory written by Eli in college.

• Self-Awareness

ISBN: 0698116208 - Twelve-year-old Buddy, whose dyslexia makes things difficult for her both at home and at school, hopes to rescue the dolphins that are being held captive and mistreated at a swamp farm near her home in the Everglades.

• Proactivity
• Emotional Coping Strategies
• Use of Social Support Systems

ISBN: 1881650049 - This anthology of 53 poems and 3 short stories shows the experience of a person who takes charge of her own life despite difficulties and challenges.  The author, a woman who wrote these poems during her childhood and teenage years, experienced a difference currently called by many names: specific learning disabilities, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and dyslexia. She was in a general education class and received virtually no help for the challenges she experienced.

• Perseverance
• Self-Awareness
• Proactivity

ISBN: 1570350302 - A children’s book that teaches about disabilities in a positive way.  The simple words and colorful illustrations teach us empathy and acceptance of differences.

• Self-Awareness

ISBN: 0679841873 - Joshua is mortified to discover that he has to repeat third grade. Not only does he have to deal with his own embarrassment, he also has to put up with the taunts of his former classmates. To top it off, his new teacher, Mrs. Goodwin, looks like a tank. But luckily she turns out to be kind and understanding, and takes the time to help him. With her help, Joshua makes it through the year and learns something important about himself.

• Perseverance
• Use of Social Support Systems